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DrDeeg
Mountain climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Sep 30, 2016 - 10:02pm PT
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I knew Frank pretty well. He, Eric Beck, Steve Thompson, Dick Erb, and I were roommates at the Great Pad on Regent St in Berkeley in 1964-65. Frank didn't like lima beans; often we others served mixed vegetables when it was our turn to cook, so we could watch Frank pick them out. I recall that the highest rating he gave to any of his FA's or FFA's was "5.9+." But he was willing to say that 5.10 existed. After Thompson and Fredericks had done the FFA of East Buttress of Lower Cathedral, Frank climbed it later in the summer of 1965 when Thompson, John Morton, Bill Peppin and I were in the Dolomites. Frank set us a letter in which he said to Thompson, "made the move on EB of Lower, seems like 5.10."
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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It turns out that Kronhofers are perfect for narrow cracks. They lack the rubber around the sides of the leather uppers, that are found on all modern climbing shoes. This allows inserting the narrow toe into the crack and then twisting the flexible toe to form a sort of cam lock. This is brutal on your toes and mine still show the damage.
We used to buy the tightest pair that we could cram on our feet, then walk in water and wear them until they dried. We'd wear out several pairs each year. There don't seem to be any remaining examples around as we wore them to shreds.
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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Nov 12, 2016 - 02:10pm PT
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Clint, I really appreciate your research and wonderful photos!
It is hard for me to match my memories exactly to the photos without actually getting back on the rock. There are two arches between your 3 and 14 that are likely candidates. At Frank's high point under the arch there was a very small smooth ledge and a shallow pin scar for just the tip of a regular angle pin, basically worthless. I stepped far out to the right onto a small nick in the sharp outer edge of the dihedral. Then there was about 80 feet of very marginal unprotected slab climbing to a ledge where I was able to drive an angle pin straight down behind a block to secure our survival. That ledge might be the top of the horizontal intrusion band a couple of pitches above 3 in your photo.
I think we were both wearing Kronhoffers, though Frank sometimes wore Salewas. Gill can comment on their relative merits.
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jgill
Boulder climber
The high prairie of southern Colorado
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Nov 12, 2016 - 03:19pm PT
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I wore Zillertals or Kronhoffers in the late 1950s, but switched to PAs and RDs in the 1960s. Chouinard introduced me to Zillertals, which were great for edging - the Kronhoffers seemed better for friction, but both were inferior to PAs and RDs, IMHO. I don't recall Salewas.
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TomKimbrough
Social climber
Salt Lake City
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Nov 12, 2016 - 04:56pm PT
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When I led it in the mid '70s I had beta from Eric Beck. This was pre-slcd but Eric knew exactly what stoppers and hexes were needed and the exact order of placement. His beta worked perfectly. I don't think there were any fixed pitons but I certainly could be wrong.
I don't remember the off-width being any problem but I expect it is super slick now.
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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Nov 12, 2016 - 09:35pm PT
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i preferred Kronhoffers to all the other contenders, including PAs, RDs, Shoenards, Robbins, etc.
The problem with Kronhoffers is wearing them out quickly and trying to find the right sized replacements
Currently I wear Kaukulators for rock climbing and La Sportiva Trangos for alpine rock and summer ice
The Sacherer Cracker and many other El Cap routes would not go free without all the pin scars. El Cap was famous for shallow bottoming cracks that required a lot of pounding on 4130 Chromolly Steel pitons in order to manage marginal direct aid. The dirty little secret of modern rock climbing is that most of those 'free' routes would not go all free without all the pin scars. Imagine going up there and filling in all the pin scars and then seeing how climbers manage.
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jstan
climber
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Nov 12, 2016 - 09:45pm PT
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When I first saw Serenity in the early 70's, as best I could tell it had started out as a rurp crack filled in
with quartz. I'm guessing it had been a flush seam.
Things have gotten pretty desperate when I have to post on climbing threads.
At the time I felt that was cheating and suggested that if we aren't going to grab bolts,
then we shouldn't grab pin scars.
Pin scars took away from us the chance to measure ourselves up against five million year old natural
problems. The loss brought us closer to a world where
"it is people(not turtles) all the way down."
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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Nov 12, 2016 - 09:51pm PT
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Yes, I recall Frank Sacherer coming to me all excited about the wild idea that the pin scars on Serenity Crack might now make it able to be done free.
At the time I felt that was cheating and suggested that if we aren't going to grab bolts, then we shouldn't grab pin scars.
I guess that view of climbing ethics didn't gain popularity...
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JerryA
Mountain climber
Sacramento,CA
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Nov 13, 2016 - 08:44am PT
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Once ran into TM at the base of West Crack at Daff Dome & he described Sacherer's remarkable first ascent .
No one who climbed before sticky rubber fails to appreciate how difficult 5.9 + was on hard soles . The difference on familiar routes wearing my first Five Ten Fires was astounding !
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the goat
climber
north central WA
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Nov 13, 2016 - 12:16pm PT
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Perhaps there's a thread regarding the difference between the early shoes, but EB's were a quantum leap forward when it came to friction. Hard to believe you could call Kronhofers, PA's or RD's friction shoes. They all had the stickiness of tap shoes. Ridiculous. Great for edging though.
I still marvel thinking of Mead Hargis freeing New Dimensions in Robbins boots and using pins.
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martygarrison
Trad climber
Washington DC
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Nov 13, 2016 - 10:21pm PT
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Yep the thin section had a couple of fixed pins around the 73+. I remember climbing it a few times around then and not going back to it until cams were around. I had forgotten how good it was.
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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Nov 13, 2016 - 10:42pm PT
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Kronhoffers changed their soles around the same time PAs and EBs became available. I thought my first pair of PAs were less sticky than my new Kronhoffers, which had an interesting sole pattern that seemed good for both smearing and edging. Plus you could get your toe right into narrow cracks where the PAs and EBs had to smear the outside of the crack.
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jstan
climber
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Nov 14, 2016 - 05:24am PT
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Early on those lucky enough to have Kronhoffers swore by them. I had about two dozen pair of RD's
myself. Good shoe. The only design I had resoled recently was a pair of those Russian slippers.
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